‘Unblocking the Clogged-up’ Planning System

The UK government will deliver a ‘sweeping overhaul’ of council planning committees aimed at ‘unblocking the clogged-up’ system, Angela Rayner is expected to announce.

Reforms proposed by the deputy prime minister would see planning applications which meet local development plan requirements bypass council committees.

This would be aimed at ending delays to new homes, cutting the time and resources spent on individual schemes and providing more certainty to housebuilders.

Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, said:

‘Building more homes and infrastructure across the country means unblocking the clogged-up planning system that serves as a chokehold on growth.

‘The government will deliver a sweeping overhaul of the creaking local planning committee system.

‘Streamlining the approvals process by modernising local planning committees means tackling the chronic uncertainty and damaging delays that act as a drag anchor on building the homes people desperately need.’

The deputy PM said the government was ‘tackling the housing crisis we inherited head-on with bold action’ as it worked towards building 1.5 million homes over five years.

The housebuilding commitment was one of the six ‘milestones’ the prime minister set out in a wide-ranging speech on Thursday, against which the public can measure the government’s performance.

Under Rayner’s proposals, council officials would have a strengthened role in decision-making about planning while the councillors who sit on the committees will get new mandatory training.

Alongside the reforms, the government is this week expected to confirm sweeping changes to the national planning policy framework – the document which sets out national priorities for building – following a consultation.

This is expected to see increased housing targets which will be mandatory for the first time, with the aim of reaching the government’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament.

Rayner said:

‘Through our planning & infrastructure bill, alongside new national planning policy Framework and mandatory housing targets, we are taking decisive steps to accelerate building, get spades in the ground and deliver the change communities need.’

The Conservatives said Labour had set a house-building target that the Office for Budget Responsibility ‘has already said they can’t achieve — because of their own budget’.

A Tory spokesman added:

‘Following the Labour Mayor of London’s lead they will almost certainly fail to meet their house-building commitments.

‘These measures are nothing more than a list of empty promises which will do nothing to ensure that Britain has the housing it needs where it needs it.’

Source: A J Bell